Sewer utilities typically use rate structures designed to ensure cost recovery, promote fairness among customer classes, and encourage water conservation. Unlike water utilities, which can meter usage directly, sewer utilities often rely on estimates or indirect methods to determine customer discharge volumes. While ratemaking is fairly straightforward, there are some innovations.

In electric utility cost of service (COS) studies, accurately allocating costs to customer classes is essential to ensuring fairness, transparency, and long-term financial sustainability. From a technical standpoint, “kva” leads to greater accuracy in cost allocations.

The electric utility industry is undergoing a profound transformation as it adapts to new technologies and changing consumer behaviors. Modern rate design must balance multiple objectives: grid reliability, cost recovery, and cost-based pricing. Here are the key trends shaping electric rate structures:

Trends in residential solar rates are evolving as solar adoption increases. What are some recent trends in payments to solar customers that are equitable for all ratepayers - both solar and non-solar?

Data centers are energy-intensive customers, operating 24/7 to support vital digital infrastructure like cloud computing and servers. Creating tailored electric rates is crucial to ensure reliable service, enhance energy efficiency, and protect rates for other users. Custom solutions meet their unique needs while promoting sustainability.

Maintaining electric rates is a necessity to meeting strategy. What are the adverse effects of posting rate increases and what are strategies for “keeping up”?

FERC Order No. 1920, issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is a regulatory mandate to modernize and enhance the nation's energy infrastructure's reliability, security, and efficiency. As with any broad order, there are winners and other impacts to consider, plus future court challenges.

Water conservation is needed for the environment, but there is a line between conservation and the impact on customer rates. It is a balancing act that is part of the business. Why is that and how can it be addressed.

Industrial customers may comprise a large portion of the load and volume of your electric, gas, wastewater, and water services. They are the customers that can be economic drivers in the community. They can also be the customers that require specific services or expansion of your facilities.

How do you provide financial security for the co-op/utility and rat equity for your other ratepayers? An industrial services contract is one method that is proven to work.

Electric vehicle rates - It is possible to encourage early adoption of EVs with special rate structures and charger rebates. This article shows some actual examples of current utility programs designed around time-of-use charging rates and rebates for electric charging equipment. Consider these as you look to options for your utility or co-op.

An electric vehicle subscription charging rate is gaining traction in the industry. That is, the same flat monthly rate paid by EV customers to charge their vehicles as much or as little as they'd like. What are the financial considerations for an EV subscription rate and the benefits to the EV customer and electric provider?

An expert witness can be one of the crucial building blocks for supporting a contract or electric rate dispute. Disputes are part of the business and an expert witness can provide strong, supportive arguments and evidence in areas where your team may not have the expertise.

This article discusses the 2023 FERC compliance audit report on issues from auditors. Here are areas of focus, not just for a FERC rate filing, but as best practices.

Using FERC accounting drives electric cost of service studies and electric rates. Electric rates drive revenues and recover the full costs of operations, debt service, and capital additions of a utility. While most investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, and large municipal utilities use the “utility method” to develop electric rates, many small to mid-sized utilities base their rates on utility cash flows. What’s the difference? Does it matter? This article dives into the differences between the two methods and provides an opinion on what method would benefit your utility’s ratemaking and cost recovery.

A common refrain from customers is that electric bills are "too high"; just cut electricity costs! With electricity costs increasing 15% annually in 2022 and 2023 and recent proposed EPA regulations designed to phase out fossil fuel electric resources, the trend in electricity prices will continue to have upward pressures.

How easy is it to provide reliable electric service and stem the tide of increasing rates? Turns out, it's not easy at all.

The utility and electric co-op business model walks a fine line between encouraging customer conservation to be a steward of the environment and recovering the utility's cost of providing service to its customers. Other factors in play, such as greater efficiencies in water use in plumbing fixtures, recycled water, and smart watering, naturally drive down water use. In the electric business, reductions in electric use due to more efficient appliances, air conditioning, hearting, lighting, and computers, coupled with increase in electric use due to electric cars (just the start of that trend) leads to an interesting landscape when it comes to electric rates.

But our topic in this article is how to connect the recovery of the costs of serving water customers and reduce consumption by all customers.

Understanding marginal electric costs is essential for various purposes, including pricing, economic efficiency, and energy policy decisions. Marginal cost electric rates provide another option for large customers who may be pushing the limits of the electric load curve.

Time of use industrial rates are common in the electric industry. Residential time of use rates are becoming more common, but still have a long way to go to catch up.

What advantages can time of use rates yield for your utility or cooperative AND your customers? Here are some insights.

If you’re new to the electric business, you may wonder what Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are and how they fit with the mix of energy options. DER are renewable energy power sources and continue to grow as power supply options. Due to the way they operate, there are different methods for determining how to provide compensation to DER providers.

This article is an introductory primer to some of those reimbursement methods.

This article outlines some of the advances in cost allocation theory, basing allocations on the timing of beneficial use of overhead activities. The application benefits your utility's investment in smart metering and load-measuring technology.